Skip to main content

Self Identity in Sociocultural Contexts: Implications from Studies of Self-face Recognition

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Culture and Neural Frames of Cognition and Communication

Part of the book series: On Thinking ((ONTHINKING))

  • 1862 Accesses

Abstract

One’s own face is an index of personal identity, and recognition of one’s own face reflects how an individual processes self identity in a perceptual task. Recent studies have uncovered cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying self-face recognition, which are characterized by faster behavioral responses to self-face than to familiar faces and enhanced activity in a fronto-parietal neural circuit. In addition, the processes of self-face are modulated by sociocultural contexts. The neurocognitive processes of self-face recognition are significantly different between participants from East Asian and Western cultures. In addition, the neurocognitive processes of self-face recognition are modulated by priming procedures that temporally activate specific cultural values or schemas. The findings of neurocognitive processes involved in self-face recognition provide empirical evidence that sociocultural contexts strongly modulate human self identity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Amsterdam B (1972) Mirror self-image reactions before age two. Dev Psychobiol 5:297–305

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Asendorpf JB, Warkentin V, Baudonniere PM (1996) Self-awareness and other-awareness II: mirror self-recognition, social contingency awareness, and synchronic imitation. Dev Psychol 32:313–321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breen N, Caine D, Coltheart M (2001) Mirrored-self misidentification: two case of focal onset dementia. Neurocase 7:239–254

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eimer M (2000) Event-related brain potentials distinguish processing stages involved in face perception and recognition. Clin Neurophysiol 111:694–705

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner WL, Gabriel S, Lee AY (1999) “I” value freedom, but “we” value relationships: self-construal priming mirrors cultural differences in judgment. Psychol Sci 10:321–326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han S, Northoff G (2008) Culture-sensitive neural substrates of human cognition: a transcultural neuroimaging approach. Nat Rev Neurosci 9:646–654

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Han S, Northoff G (2009) Understanding the self: a cultural neuroscience approach. Prog Brain Res 178:203–212

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hong Y (2009) A dynamic constructivist approach to culture: moving from describing culture to explaining culure. In: Wyer RS, Chiu C-Y, Hong Y-Y (eds) Problems and solutions in cross-cultural theory, research and application. Psychology Press, New York, pp 3–24

    Google Scholar 

  • James W (1890/1950) The principles of psychology. Dover, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Keenan JP, McCutcheon B, Sanders G, Freund S, Gallup GG, Pascual-Leone A (1999) Left hand advantage in a self-face recognition task. Neuropsychologia 37:1421–1425

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keenan JP, Wheeler MA, Gallup GG, Pascual-Leone A (2000) Self-recognition and the right prefrontal cortex. Trends Cogn Sci 4:338–344

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keenan JP, Nelson AM, O’Connor M, Pascual-Leone A (2001) Self-recognition and the right hemisphere. Nature 409:305

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keyes H, Brady N, Reilly RB, Fox JJ (2010) My face or yours? Event-related potential correlates of self-face processing. Brain Cogn 72:244–254

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ma Y, Han S (2009) Self-face advantage is modulated by social threat – boss effect on self-face recognition. J Exp Soc Psychol 45:1048–1051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma Y, Han S (2010) Why respond faster to the self than others? An implicit positive association theory of self advantage during implicit face recognition. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform, 36:619–633

    Google Scholar 

  • Markus HR, Kitayama S (1991) Culture and the self: implication for cognition, emotion and motivation. Psychol Rev 98:224–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Platek SM, Keenan JP, Gallup GG, Mohamed FB (2004) Where am I? The neurological correlates of self and other. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 19:114–122

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Platek SM, Loughead JW, Gur RC, Busch S, Ruparel K, Phend N (2006) Neural substrates for functionally discriminating self-face from personally familiar faces. Hum Brain Mapp 27:91–98

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rossion B, Campanella S, Gomez CM, Delinte A, Debatisse B, Liard L, Dubois S, Bruyer R, Crommelinck M, Guerit JM (1999) Task modulation of brain activity related to familiar and unfamiliar face processing: an ERP study. Clin Neurophysiol 110:449–462

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sugiura M, Kawashima R, Nakamura K, Okada K, Kato T, Nakamura A, Hatano K, Itoh K, Kojima S, Fukuda H (2000) Passive and active recognition of one’s own face. Neuroimage 11:36–48

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sugiura M, Watanabe J, Maeda Y, Matsue Y, Fukuda H, Kawashima R (2005) Cortical mechanisms of visual self-recognition. Neuroimage 24:143–149

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sui J, Han S (2007) Self-construal priming modulates neural substrates of self-awareness. Psychol Sci 18:861–866

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sui J, Zhu Y, Han S (2006) Self-face recognition in attended and unattended conditions: an ERP study. NeuroReport 17(4):423–427

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sui J, Liu CH, Han S (2009) Cultural difference in neural mechanisms of self-recognition. Soc Neurosci 4:402–411

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tong F, Nakayama K (1999) Robust representations for faces: evidence from visual search. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 25:1016–1035

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Uddin LQ, Kaplan JT, Molnar-Szakaca I, Zaidel E, Iacoboni M (2005) Self-face recognition activates a frontoparietal “mirror” network in the right hemisphere: an event-related fMRI study. Neuroimage 25:926–935

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Uddin LQ, Molnar-Szakacs I, Zaidel E, Iacoboni M (2006) rTMS to the right inferior parietal lobule disrupts self-other discrimination. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 1:65–71

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Y, Han S (2008) Cultural differences in the self: from philosophy to psychology and neuroscience. Soc Personal Psychol Compass 2:1799–1811

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Y, Zhang L, Fan J, Han S (2007) Neural basis of cultural influence on self representation. Neuroimage 34:1310–1317

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 30630025, 30828012, 30910103901) and National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program 2010CB833903).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shihui Han .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Han, S., Ma, Y., Sui, J. (2011). Self Identity in Sociocultural Contexts: Implications from Studies of Self-face Recognition. In: Han, S., Pöppel, E. (eds) Culture and Neural Frames of Cognition and Communication. On Thinking. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15423-2_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics